obama said yesterday that this could get done in about a week. i think he might be right. republicans see the writing on the wall when it comes to tax increases. what they're interested in now is making sure they get spending cuts to go along with the tax increases. when obama put his additional offer, he said $1.60 trillion in tax increases and we will delay the spending cuts until next year. that was the initial offer. republicans want to make sure that the spending cuts go up and become more immediate. considering that obama has been open to spending cuts in previous negotiations and says he is open to it now and republicans have changed from where they were a year ago when it comes to tax increases, i think it will not take too much to get there, although there are still obstacles. host: the $1.60 trillion and $800 billion are the opening numbers. where are we with those numbers now? have those numbers been altered? guest: i do not know if republicans have gone above $800. the question will be, will obama be able to get above $800. once you start talking about the $1 t